


The River

by such_heights



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-08-03
Updated: 2007-08-03
Packaged: 2017-10-18 01:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/183391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/such_heights/pseuds/such_heights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luna dives deep to find a Horcrux.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The River

**Author's Note:**

> As this was written pre-DH, this is hopelessly AU, and contains no spoilers whatsoever. Posted here mostly for posterity.

Luna nodded as Harry slipped the package into her hand. He stayed in the shadows, eyes darting from side to side with a movement so ceaseless Luna knew it was just the same in his sleep. She breathed in the twilight air, as though a gift to her lungs before she forced her biology to remould itself. Harry looked at her, and it was all the cue she needed.

She slipped out into the street, focusing all her thoughts on not being noticed. Eyes flickering across the cobbled stones, she passed by shops, cafés, and the thrumming of everyday life. She didn't dare look up, trusting in her other eyes, who were stood all around her, she knew, wands clutched as they strained to find masked faces in the crowd.

Oh, and she was small, so small, and so unnoticeable, so she thought with all her might as she took the steps down to the river edge. She could not be seen. She pressed herself against the rocks, sliding down to the coarse sand that ran down to the water. She fumbled in her robes, pulling out the parchment once again. Yes, down below, right beneath these very rocks, that was where it had to be. She tore open the package and bit into the Gillyweed Harry had given her.

She had to suppress a laugh at the strange, tickling sensation that developed as she ran down to the river, kicking off her shoes and burying them under a rock before diving into the depths without a sound.

In the water, there was silence. Long, straggling strands of fern seemed to reach out to clutch her, and as she brushed past them they furled out, sending streams of little bubbles trickling to the surface. Her robes clumped together, weighing her down in strange ways and keeping her not quite on balance. She plunged downwards.

Even with her enhanced vision, she could only peer into the murky depths and wonder. Part of her longed to keep on swimming down, to touch this impossibly deep river bed and feel untouched sand between her fingers, but there was no guarantee she'd surface again, and Harry needed her.

She stretched out her webbed hands and reached for the opening in the rocks that began to come into focus. The rocks were sharp against her fingers, but she pulled herself forwards and began to swim inside. She passed the sites of previous victories – the charms Hermione had painstakingly undone, one by one, the rocks Ron had hauled into position over two torturous days, and the blood Harry had shed from his veins as though it were of no more concern than water. All so she could pass through. Luna brushed her fingers against these monuments to their sacrifice.

She floated on through the tunnel, its sharp edges scraping against her, slowing her progress. The end was narrow, and she struggled not to gasp into her lungs despite herself. Then suddenly her eyes widened, as a great chamber soared above her. She spiralled through the water, twisting to look at all the expanse around her.

It could be anywhere.

The thought did not trouble her unduly, as she let her gaze and mind wander. It would be beautiful, Harry had said, probably glinting in the dappled light above from the sun far above. And when she saw it, she'd know.

Things were glinting everywhere. This was a trove of countless treasures, a mass hoarded a long time ago. Luna thought and thought. Somewhere concealed, yet somewhere open, proud to show its beauty without anyone noticing its significance. Her hair swam in front of her eyes, splayed out and white-gold in the sun that streamed in from a chink up above. Her eyes followed the light upwards, as it narrowed towards its source. At the top of the cave, something shone, just a little brighter than anything else.

Luna kicked her feet and shot upwards, thrilling at the rush of water past her body. Jewels encrusted the rocks up here, and there, perhaps, just where the light couldn't fail to miss it…

A brooch rested in a enclave in the rock. Bronze and tarnished, but containing the most brilliantly blue sapphire Luna had ever seen. She stared at it, dazzled. She reached towards it delicately, picking it up and drawing it closer. She looked into its depths, the way it reflected the light. It was beautiful.

As she gazed closer, a flash of green light seemed to go off somewhere in its depths. It was all she could do not to drop the brooch in horror. Steeling her nerves, she gripped the brooch in one fist and drifted downwards again, trying to ignore the lights that shone in every direction, whirling and disorientating.

She flung herself through the tunnel, heedless of the scratches rapidly forming on her arms, and it seemed an eternity before she could rush towards the surface, there to gasp for air until Hermione rushed down to remove her gills. Her arm fell outwards, and she dropped the brooch in the sand as though it burned her.

"I'm sorry, Luna," Hermione was saying, "we should never have asked this of you." If she said anything else after that, Luna was in ignorance, as the water continued to rush from her robes and she sank into oblivious sleep.


End file.
